Featured Why does this get so addicting?

mate, ive wanted one of those since i was knee high to a grasshopper

 

I have been trying with all of my might to keep my behind out of the shops & continue to clear out all the boxes of stuff that were out in the garage not to mention the ones all around my office.

I have done fairly well so far. I did fall off the wagon around the first of the year but have not been anywhere since then.

I guarantee you the high is just as good when you sell something for really good money that you had totally forgotten even existed in your universe.

 

ive got about 400 £10 items that i couldnt be bothered to list and they go dormant

but you go through and think, i could probably sell that

and because youve forgotten what you paid for it, it feels like 100% profit

 

I've come from freelance where income can be feast or famine, so you have to save and not get too spendy. I also resell to bump income up when I'm not busy. And I don't have an attic, garage, or any large storage. Not even much smaller storage, so I get creative.

You have to milk that high and keep it going.

Its impossible to always get the good stuff, and there's the temptation on the not-so-good for a meager high that only creates more work for less profit or enjoyment (think: overcrowded collection you gotta dust and store and can't even see all of).

So when I had less money, I learned to revisit the high from the things I had. Put it out on display all by itself and rotate the best stuff so you get a bump when you look at it. Make a "greatest hits" photo folder on your phone or computer to browse like window shopping, for after ya just looked at an underwhelming estate sale ad. Use the nice stuff. Come here and share it and browse other people's stuff vicariously. I even look at museum holdings occasionally. Selling to another buyer who's gonna love that thing (and bump your bank account) is great too.

Our brains are dumb meats. They've done studies that people get a high out of aquiring and the excitement before they get the package, and then it's gone immediately after. I say you just need to trick the dumb brain into shopping the stuff you've already got lol. It works for me.

Sometimes we go thrifting and I don't buy a thing, and I feel like I won cause I didn't drag crap home. Save that luck up for another day!

 

im all about the buying, i could do it all day long, but i aint a seller
i do well with selling but its a chore
i could make £800 average in a 10 day listing
then blow it all on new things
ive got to the stage where i dont really need anything
but buying things even though i know ill sell them is like buying something for myself

 

funny aside, but we did the dna testing kits recently

my mum being born in the 50s was and always has been terrified of the germans

plagued with nightmares of invading nazi soldiers

80 %

 

I know someone like that. Though far from a spring chicken, he gets up at three AM to be the first in line for an estate sale that starts at eight. Even in the middle of the winter.

I can’t stand lines or crowds, so I’m lucky I get my dopamine highs from solving puzzles and finding answers. I don’t sell and seldom buy anything these days, because I don’t want to leave mountains of curios for my kids to sort out. I barely survived the downsizing from a house to a city flat when we moved across the Atlantic. Deciding what to keep ( baby clothes, loved-to-pieces stuffed animals? 70’s perfume bottles and almost unworn stilettos? Disney videos from the eighties? tons of books? husband’s woodworking tools?) gave me suicide migraines as we had to fit everything into a 20 ft ocean container. I don’t wish that to my worst enemy.

The boards are addictive, too, because they are a community you can join in your pyjamas, round the clock.

 

I had to start being honest with myself about whether I would look forward to listing something. If I thought "No I'm going to hate that because it's a pain to photo/describe for not enough reward..." then I had my answer. Then there's the buying something to sell and immediately deciding to keep it when I get it home. I'm my own worst enemy!

I see a holiday trip to her ancestral home in her future!

 

I've tried to stay home after going to bed late from watching a movie, etc but I wake up at same time every morning & when I've thought about skipping today and going back to sleep, my mind starts telling me 'what if another highwaymen comes in today?? What if another Roy Lichtenstein comes in today & you miss it??!
Until I finally jump up & rece out the door because I'm running late - it's an addiction!!

 

"it's an addiction!!" Is right but interesting how this addiction seems to manifest it's self in different ways. I don't hustle and bustle at car boots or go to antique fairs or even antique shops, I only use ebay. I look through 1000's of lots each week and find maybe 3 or 4 on a good week (spotting a good lot starts the excitement) and hope these aren't spotted by other buyers, it then comes to the final few seconds before I bid (at this point the excitement is at fever pitch) Winning the lot (maybe 1 a month) at a price that is many times less than I can expect to buy it for is a huge buzz. Waiting for it to arrive (hoping it doesn't have hidden damage) It finally arrives (buzz again) 95% of the time it's better than I expected, because I also buy antiques to restore the challenge of restoration and it's final outcome (also the big bump in price) gives me another big thrill. So yes "it's an addiction!!"

 

Pics?

 

Well said @mirana
Whenever I think about hitting the thrift shops, I walk around the house admiring all the cool stuff I've found over the years.
I go through my boxes of jewelry to remind myself that I should stay out of the pawn shops.

Of course, I still go to these places occasionally, but not obsessively like I used to!

 

Of the golf course?

 

Nothing to worry about, that 80% is pre-Nazi.

I have a German great-grandfather, born close to the Dutch border. His mother was French (as was his wife). His family moved to the Dutch side of the border when he was 12.
He was fiercely anti-German and anti-Nazi during both world wars. He called Germans "d'r Prüüss", "the Prussian", and no way was he Prüüss.

 

hilarious...

 

I thought you meant Eagle statues or coins or something.

 

god i hate that feeling, your heart starts beating like a drum, waiting for a rival bid to come in, while the seconds go down

too much for me that and my heart

what i do instead is search newly listed buy it nows in broad terms like - chinese vase

 

That’s what I used to do, too, on eBay.
The last second snipers on eBay are the worst for heart health!

The rules on some other auction sites on the net extend the time for five minutes after the latest bid.

 

yeah thats what they do on easyliveauctions was miffed at first, but its a way for the item to get its full potential

 

did mine recently to find out about my dads side, waiting on the results

had them laughing their head off at the post office

the lady asked me what it was and told her

and i said (jokingly) im just worried about it coming up with a few unsolved murder cases

been watching far too much true crime